Beer of the Weekend #162: Schell's Oktoberfest
October is the best month of the year, so I thought I would wish everyone a happy October.
The beer of the weekend is Schell’s Oktoberfest, brewed by the August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm, Minnesota.
I intended to buy Samuel Adams Octoberfest. Heinie, who is now no longer with Dirty John’s, said nobody in the country knows how to brew lager like Samuel Adams, and highly recommended its märzen. However, ol’ Dirty’s didn’t have any in stock last night, so I went with Schell’s offering.
A sixer of Schell’s Octoberfest was part of my groomsman’s gift package given to me two years ago by Bobblehead. Note the spelling change: “Octoberfest” to “Oktoberfest.” Schell apparently decided to be truer to New Ulm’s heritage by using the German spelling of the month. Though I gladly drank it, I did not give Schell’s märzen a proper tasting. Heinie also mentioned Schell being just as masterful with lagers as Samuel Adams, highly recommending the märzen from the Gopher State.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. There are two cryptic codes printed on the neck, but I can decipher neither as a freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is an amber/gold with just a slight hint of ruby. Two and a half fingers of an off-white head developed and dissipated quickly to leave a spotted lacing and ring around the edge.
Smell: I hate to say it, but it smells like the cheap Meier’s Sparkling Cider I drank as a kid for Thanksgiving dinner. It is also reminiscent of hair spray and the stray strands of burnt hair wrapped around a curling iron. Not the most enticing aroma. As it warms the smell becomes slightly fruity, but in an artificial, store brand Limeade way.
Taste: This is a märzen, right? It sure doesn’t taste like it. Very weak and lacks all the characteristic flavors I associate with Oktoberfestbiers. Slight traces of caramel malts and hops, and that is about it. The burnt hair element from the smell comes into play as well. It has a bitter edge to it, which is nice. As the pint warms, thought, a different side of the beer emerges. The unsavory, hair salon residue fades considerably. Caramel and helles-like sweet malts provide a level of taste comparable to actual beer, and it is rounded off nicely by a smooth hop bite that lingers on the back of the tongue.
Drinkability: Schell must have taken all their good batches to the Great American Beer Festival, because I have no clue how they pulled down a silver medal with this. Either that or my sixer is not the best. Thumbs down.
Fun facts about Schell’s Oktoberfest:
-Style: Märzen.
-Price: $6.99/sixer at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.
-According to the New Ulm Journal, Schell’s Oktoberfest recently earned a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the American Amber Lager (American Oktoberfest) category.
-The GABF, held in Boulder, Colorado this year, a few weeks ago. Check out all the winners here: http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/the-competition/winners/. A few highlights I noticed: Hefelightzen, brewed by BJ’s of Huntington Beach, won the gold medal for German-Style Wheat Ale; Miller Lite won the gold for American-Style Lager or Light Lager (Old Milwaukee, which I have never tried, won the silver); in general, the west coast cleaned up and the Midwest fared very poorly. Granted, there were a ton more breweries from the west coast participating than from the heartland. Granite City Food & Brewery was the lone Hawkeye State rep, which surprises me a lot. I would have thought Millstream would be there. If it had, I’m sure its märzen would have cleaned up.
The Quiet Man’s grade: C-.
The beer of the weekend is Schell’s Oktoberfest, brewed by the August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm, Minnesota.
I intended to buy Samuel Adams Octoberfest. Heinie, who is now no longer with Dirty John’s, said nobody in the country knows how to brew lager like Samuel Adams, and highly recommended its märzen. However, ol’ Dirty’s didn’t have any in stock last night, so I went with Schell’s offering.
A sixer of Schell’s Octoberfest was part of my groomsman’s gift package given to me two years ago by Bobblehead. Note the spelling change: “Octoberfest” to “Oktoberfest.” Schell apparently decided to be truer to New Ulm’s heritage by using the German spelling of the month. Though I gladly drank it, I did not give Schell’s märzen a proper tasting. Heinie also mentioned Schell being just as masterful with lagers as Samuel Adams, highly recommending the märzen from the Gopher State.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles. There are two cryptic codes printed on the neck, but I can decipher neither as a freshness date.
Appearance: Straight pour into a pint glass. The color is an amber/gold with just a slight hint of ruby. Two and a half fingers of an off-white head developed and dissipated quickly to leave a spotted lacing and ring around the edge.
Smell: I hate to say it, but it smells like the cheap Meier’s Sparkling Cider I drank as a kid for Thanksgiving dinner. It is also reminiscent of hair spray and the stray strands of burnt hair wrapped around a curling iron. Not the most enticing aroma. As it warms the smell becomes slightly fruity, but in an artificial, store brand Limeade way.
Taste: This is a märzen, right? It sure doesn’t taste like it. Very weak and lacks all the characteristic flavors I associate with Oktoberfestbiers. Slight traces of caramel malts and hops, and that is about it. The burnt hair element from the smell comes into play as well. It has a bitter edge to it, which is nice. As the pint warms, thought, a different side of the beer emerges. The unsavory, hair salon residue fades considerably. Caramel and helles-like sweet malts provide a level of taste comparable to actual beer, and it is rounded off nicely by a smooth hop bite that lingers on the back of the tongue.
Drinkability: Schell must have taken all their good batches to the Great American Beer Festival, because I have no clue how they pulled down a silver medal with this. Either that or my sixer is not the best. Thumbs down.
Fun facts about Schell’s Oktoberfest:
-Style: Märzen.
-Price: $6.99/sixer at John’s Grocery in Iowa City.
-Serving temperature: 45-50ºF.
-Alcohol content: 5.5 percent ABV.
-According to the New Ulm Journal, Schell’s Oktoberfest recently earned a silver medal at the Great American Beer Festival in the American Amber Lager (American Oktoberfest) category.
-The GABF, held in Boulder, Colorado this year, a few weeks ago. Check out all the winners here: http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/the-competition/winners/. A few highlights I noticed: Hefelightzen, brewed by BJ’s of Huntington Beach, won the gold medal for German-Style Wheat Ale; Miller Lite won the gold for American-Style Lager or Light Lager (Old Milwaukee, which I have never tried, won the silver); in general, the west coast cleaned up and the Midwest fared very poorly. Granted, there were a ton more breweries from the west coast participating than from the heartland. Granite City Food & Brewery was the lone Hawkeye State rep, which surprises me a lot. I would have thought Millstream would be there. If it had, I’m sure its märzen would have cleaned up.
The Quiet Man’s grade: C-.
Comments
Post a Comment